Going Home
by Sussurous
Summary: Au Sephiroth/Cloud-Zack/Aeris After AC there is a happy ending.
1. 1 Haunted

Haunted

The Shinra mansion was a blackened sentinel on the hilltop. A blind witness to the burnt out ruin that had been Nebelheim. If ever a building should be haunted, Cloud thought, it was that one. How many had lost their lives in that forbidding structure? How many had been tortured and corrupted like he and Zack had been? It didn't deserve to stand, it's enduring presence an insult to the graveyard that his hometown had become. He understood now why he'd come, for closure. Burning it down would bring him peace.

After the last battle with Sephiroth, Cloud had found himself strangely unsettled. He should have felt victorious for saving the planet and becoming it's Hero, celebrated and loved by all. Especially considering how insignificant he'd once been. How he'd failed to make SOLDIER, but he felt nothing. Sephiroth's last words haunted him and Cloud was determined to make the man less than a memory. He would forget him entirely. Wipe out every sign that reminded him of the past.

Maybe that was why Cloud had felt so unsettled. Why he couldn't remain anywhere. Every town he'd traveled to since the Advent he'd felt an irresistible urge to leave. There were memories everywhere. They haunted his dreams so that he couldn't sleep. Circled his mind when he was awake until he felt like he was going crazy.

It was for the best that he'd left Tifa and the rest of his friends from Avalanche behind. They'd all moved on, almost like none of it had happened. He envied them for being able to rebuild their lives and move on. He wished he could let it go, but he couldn't.

That's why he found himself in the last place he'd ever wanted to set foot in again. Home. Even though he knew what to expect, it still had shocked him to find the little mountain town of his memories a burnt out shell, quickly being swallowed by weeds.

It came to him suddenly that he didn't even know where the bodies had been buried and wondered if they had been. Perhaps if he poked around a bit he could find the broken skeleton of his mom and make his homecoming complete. Perhaps they could get together and talk over old times. Cloud laughed at that, the sound loud and broken in the still air, almost sounding like sobs. He laughed and he laughed until he found himself kneeling in the dirt tears streaming from his eyes and his stomach hurting from the effort.

Cloud wondered, as he gasped for air and tried to get himself together again, if perhaps he hadn't gone crazy after all.

He hated to admit it to himself but he was pretty sure he'd gone around the bend. He lost track of time sometimes, he'd be going about his business, pause for a bit and suddenly find that hours had passed. Or find himself somewhere without the memory of actually getting there. It was disturbing. He felt lost all the time.

Also he had this unshakeable feeling that Aeris wasn't dead. He'd told Tifa about that and her shocked and worried expression had immediately made him shut up and laugh about it like it was just a heartless joke. She hadn't seemed convinced. It had only increased her hovering, offering him tea and a blanket and perhaps a nice trip to Healin. In the end he hadn't been able to get away from her fast enough.

The truth was that Cloud dreamed about Aeris often. In the dreams, she kept telling him to come to her. To find her. To hurry. And he always woke up in a panic, wanting to rush out immediately to save her and take her home. Never mind that she was dead. That he knew it, even in his dreams. The urge was always there and made him want to scream because he had failed her and he continued to fail her..

Cloud got to his feet and started making his way to the Mansion. Yeah, he would burn it. Set the whole fucking forest on fire and if the wind shifted and he couldn't get away from the flames, then to hell with it. He had nothing left to lose and perhaps he'd finally find peace.


	2. 2 Never be a memory

Never be a memory.

Cloud followed the overgrown path to the front door but then veered right to walk around toward the back. He didn't know why he did it, but lately he didn't really know why he did anything. He was drawn that was all. Walking in through the front door just felt wrong.

It didn't take him long to find a strange door made of reinforced steel. It was so completely out of character to the rest of the house that Cloud knew that he had found his entrance. His Omni weapon opened it in a heartbeat.

Inside he found cement stairs leading down into the bowels of the building and Cloud shivered as though reliving a bad dream. Suddenly, he didn't want to go exploring. What was down there anyway? Nothing, he was sure. Easier to just burn the place, he thought, but his body had a mind of its own and he found himself going down the steps, leaving daylight behind.

He was met with a second door, also easily opened with his Weapon and as he walked inside he was immediately engulfed in icy cold. It was as though he'd stepped into an ice box. But it wasn't an icebox, it was the Lab.

For a moment he couldn't move as memory after memory washed over him. There was the table, where most of the experiments had been done. It was a steel autopsy table, with channels to drain away fluids and a built in sink. This one had been outfitted with full restraints since most of its former occupants hadn't started off dead. And there was the cell where he and Zack had lived in when not being tested and tortured or soaked in Mako vats. All that was missing was Hojo.

Cloud stepped forward, wondering how long he'd stood there lost in memories from the past. Surprisingly the place still had power. The emergency lights were lit and he could hear the hum of an air conditioner. Hojo's computer still hummed, as though the man had only stepped out moments ago instead of years.

Cloud shook his head, it had all happened long ago and nothing remained of that horrible time that could hurt him. He walked through the room, seeing dust everywhere. Now that he was here he couldn't not explore. It was a morbid desire, even though he was horrified to back, he was filled with curiosity. Here was his chance to walk through as a free man and perhaps he would finally be able to bury his demons.

There was a door in the back, steel of course, but with an observation window. Cloud noticed the mako glow as he approached it and knew this is was where the Mako tubes were kept. There were two and Cloud stood a moment gazing at them as though they were a memorial. He remembered them too well and it was with an effort that he tore his eyes away. He needed to explore further, though he honestly felt that he had seen enough. He was starting to feel sick and like he wanted to throw up.

But he couldn't stop, there was more, another door, and this one protected with a key pad and a voice identifier. Cloud smiled grimly to himself and easily broke through it. He found himself in another lab, smaller but well equipped. Against one wall was a Mako tank and even from the doorway he could see that it was occupied.

Walking towards it he refused to think, instead he prepared himself for the monster that must reside within it.

He was in no way prepared for what he saw. At first he couldn't believe his eyes and simply stared trying to make sense of it.

Inside the tank, floating in iridescent green Mako, long hair floating and twining around his naked body, was Sephiroth.

"No." He cried, stumbling back and away from the tank. It was impossible.

Cloud may have lost his touch on reality. He might have become a touch suicidal. But he hadn't yet begun to hallucinate.

But he couldn't deny what he was seeing. It _was_Sephiroth in that tank and he was alive.

Still alive.

After everything he had done. After killing everyone Cloud had ever loved and destroying everything he had ever cared about he didn't deserve to live.

"Goddamit!" Cloud screamed. Sephiroth should be dead.

Cloud unsheathed the Omni Sword, his body tensed and trembling with anger. Sephiroth _would_ die. If it was the very last thing he did, Cloud would make sure that the Silver Haired Monster would not come back. He would chop off his head. Hack the rest to bits. Then he would set fire to the remains and scatter the ashes to the winds. There would be no burial place for the Nightmare, just like there hadn't been one for his mother. Or for Zack.

Cloud strode purposely into the room, swung his sword back, aimed and smashed the tank open. Liquid Mako spilled out onto the floor, carrying Sephiroth's limp body with it. Cloud lifted the Omni Weapon high and aimed for the ex-General's throat.

And hesitated.

Funny that it would take seconds to end Sephiroth's miserable life. After all the damage he had caused. After his multiple resurrections it would come down to this moment and time. Right now. Then once and for all it would be over.

Yeah, there would be many unanswered questions. So many unanswered questions. Suddenly, Cloud decided that he wanted answers. He deserved them and he wouldn't stop until he got them.

He grabbed Sephiroth by his famous silver hair, hair that he had once loved to run his hands through but now hated the feel of, and dragged the limp body out of the room and into the specimen cell.

Just being in the small room for the brief moment it took him to dump Sephiroth's body made him feel a stab of anxiety. But he wasn't the helpless prisoner this time. This time he would be on the outside looking in. The room was brightly lit with an unbreakable glass front. It was proven inescapable and had an outside panel with lots of interesting add ons for testing experiments.


	3. 3 Monsters don't feel

Monsters don't feel

Pain and dizzying sickness was what Sephiroth felt as he regained concsiousness. Then the cold Mako burn that coverered every inch of his body. He knew he was suffering from severe Mako poisoning, and that given time it would pass.

He knew that he was lieing on a cold hard floor, under viciously bright lights that he couldn't quite open his eyes agaisnt. Listening carefully, he heard the sound of the air conditioner and a quiet hum of machinery and he knew where he was.

Hojo's lab.

Sephiroth shuddered despite himself, trying to remember what had happened before, how he had gotten here, but his memories where just flashes of violence. Images of fire and death, screams and blood and he couldn't put any of it in any kind of order. Was it Wataii he was remembering?

Sick and feverish, shivering and weak, he forced himself up onto his hands and knees before sickness overcame him and he vomited pure Mako onto the floor, heaving helplessly until his stomach was empty. Gasping to catch his breath he kept retching as tears streamed from his burning eyes.

"Sephiroth."

Sephiroth looked up at the sound of his name, squinting under the harsh lighting. He saw, without surprise that he was in one of the specimen cells. The room was made of metal, fronted with a large glass observation window. On the other side staring grimly at him was Cloud Strife. Sephiroth remembered a little more at the sight of the yellow haired man. He remembered that he'd once cared for him at that Cloud had ended his life several times.

It took everything he had to force himself to his feet. He was trembling and weak, but refused to show it.

Sephiiroth's memory was mostly still a blur, but he was remembering how his entire life, Jenova had whispered in his mind. Somehow, she'd caught him in a moment of weakness. He remembered that he'd gone crazy in Nebelheim. And remained crazy for some time after. He had wanted to hurt, kill and destroy. He'd wanted everything to end. He had found Mother and with her he had come to an understanding. He was different from all of humanity because he was better. He was a God in their presence and _they_ had used him for their petty desires. After he had found Mother he had broken free from his shakles of slavery. He had arisen from the ashes of his life like a deity, blood thirsty and vengeful. He had wanted to ravage the Planet and absorb it's power and then he would move on as Mother had done so many years before. He would be the ruler of everything.

Instead, somehow, Cloud Strife had overpowered him.

Hojo had recovered his body after his first defeat and placed him in a Mako tank, where he'd remained still crazed and hungry for revenge. Though his body was imprisioned his mind was free. From there, he had made a second bid for godhood. The northern crater and Meteor. Again he was inexplicably beaten.

Time had passed. Conciousness, followed by unconciousness. His anger had faded though mother continued to whisper in his ear. But she couldn't help him and so he stopped listening. Finally he had reached out with his mind, his only freedom and tried to find a way to end his suffereing.

He had freed the clones, sent them to free him as a way to end his suffereing. Somehow the only one who had been able to stop him was Strife. Sephiroth didn't know how he'd been capable of it, luck only explained so much, but Cloud had become his equal. As his equal he was the only one who could kill him. Even that plan for suicide had failed. He was forced to accept that he wasn't a God. For all his power and cunning and will he was nothing. A failure who couldn't even end his own existance. After that was despair, knowing that he would never get out of his Mako prison until old age claimed him.

Yet he _was_ out and once again it was Cloud Strife who had played a pivital role in his life. Sephiroth looked up at his old lover and current enemy and wondered only one thing: What did he want?

Strife" He said, his first words in how ever long he'd been soaking in Mako. His voice was a hoarse croak weak and to his ears, pathetic. He coughed to clear his voice and quickly gathered himself together. He would be strong.

"Water." Was his second word, stronger sounding. Commanding. Better.

Cloud gave him a cold, soulless look before he pressed a button on the console he stood behind. Sephiroth gasped as jets of high powered water shot out at him from the walls. He was too weak to fight agaisnt the pressure and was thrown back down hard.

"Thanks." He coughed, from where he lay sprawled.

"Anything else I can do for you?"

Sephiroth slowly rose to his feet, careful to appear casual as he walked forward, rakeing his hair back out of his face and squeezing water out of it.

"I want a towel and clothes, unless you like looking at my naked ass." He said, once he reached the window. "And you can let me out now."

"No, I don't think so. I like you right there."

"What do you want, Cloud? Revenge?"

"I want my life back, you son of a bitch but since you took that away I want to see you dead."

"So what's stopping you then." Sephiroth said with a challenging look. "Come in here and kill me."

"Not that easy." Cloud sneered back. "You have a lot to answer for Sephiroth."

"...and you think I'm going to answer to you?"

"You owe me an explaination! You owe me more than that!"

Sephiroth gave him an intractable look Cloud laughed bitterly.

"Do you regret any of it?"

Sephiroth said nothing. He stood glaring at Cloud as though he was still The General. As though he was standing there in full battle gear, with the Massamune sheathed and ready at his back instead of standing there naked, beaten and at his mercy. This more than anything else so far enraged Cloud. Sephiroth wasn't the General anymore and Cloud wasn't some awestruck cadet, ready and willing to do anything for his hero.

"Of course you don't." Cloud answered for him. "Monsters don't feel anything, right? They don't feel pain or love or friendship. For instance, let's talk about Zack." Cloud said, legs apart arms crossed over his chest, studying Sephiroth for any sign of weakness.

Sephiroth met his stare without expression. "What about him?"

"It's your fault he's dead." Cloud said watching Sephiroth carefully, and just caught a brief flash of something in his face. Too quick to tell if it was remorse or ... On anyone else Cloud would have named it hurt, but this was Sephiroth and he couldn't be hurt.

"Well don't you have something to say to that? He was your friend right?" Cloud studied Sephiroth. The other man's gaze was unblinking and remorseless. "Well he was my friend and it's your fault he's dead. And Aeris-"

"Who?" Sephiroth sneered.

"Don't pretend you don't know. The flower girl you murdered."

Sephiroth lips slid into an evil smile, eyes cold and hard. "Ah yes, you loved her didn't you, Cloud? I treasure the memory of my blade sliceing through her heart."

"Is that why you did it? You were jealous? I didn't want your psychopathic ass, so you decided that I couldn't have anyone else. Your a monster and you're insane."

"So you say. Tell me Cloud what part of that surprises you?" Sephiroth said stepping up close to the glass, his expression grim.

"Nothing you do surprises me." Cloud said.

"What if I told you Zack isn't dead."

"I'd say you were lying lying through your teeth."

"In the mako tank, I was able to reach out with my mind. You know about the clones, I directed them, I tried to bring them to me... but I also found Zack and he is alive."

"Impossible, I was there when he died."

"...and you left him for dead." Sephiroth said coolly.

Cloud shook his head violently. "No."

"He was mortally wounded, but he is a SOLDIER and SOLDIER heals very quickly. Zack dragged himself off that cliff, Cloud and he lived."

"If that's true, then where is he now?"

Sephiroth gave him a long searching look. "I've rested a long time in Mako Cloud. An eternity. Jenova no longer controls me. I am sane. I want to find Zack."

"Your insane."

"Let me out Cloud. We'll find him together."

Cloud stared at Sephiroth with disbelief and started laughing at him. "Are you so far gone that you honestly think that I'm gullible enough to trust you ever again? I want you dead!"

Cloud stepped back from the glass, Sephiroth had to be lying. He was a monster, a psychopath. A conciousless beast who knew just enough of human emotion to twist it to hurt others. Cloud stared down at the control panel. He wouldn't need to get close to Sephiroth to kill him, all he had to do was press one tiny little button and the jets that had shot out water would shoot out poison instead.

"Then what's stopping you? Go ahead and do it Strife."

"So now you have a death wish?" Cloud said quietly, but found himself hesitateing as he carressed that fatal button.

"If you're not going to kill me than what are you going to do?"

Cloud just looked at him. "Do you regret any of it?" He asked again.

Sephiroth put a hand up to the glass, his gaze intent but softer.

"Let me out Cloud." Sephiroth said in a voice that he hadn't heard since before Nebelheim. It was the voice Sephiroth had used just for him, during those times when it was just the two of them. It was a soft and carressing nighttime whisper.

Cloud hated him for useing it.

Sephiroth had once been his world. Listenting to that voice made him yearn for things to be like they had been but he couldn't forget Nebelheim or Meteor. He remembered clearly Sephiroth's smile as he killed Aeris. Now he dared to look him in the eye and tell him that Zack was still alive. He dared to use that intimate voice with him.

"No." Cloud said shaking his head. It hurt so much to hear Sephiroth talking to him like that. Like they still meant something to each other. Like they were anything but the worst of mortal enemies.

Sephiroth had always known how to handle him. Had known how to turn him into putty in his hands. Cloud wouldn't let him do it again. He had to end this now before he became weak.

Yet, as he stood there, glaring daggers of pure hatred at his old lover, one finger pressed lightly on the button that would end it once and for all, he found that it was too late and he couldn't do it.

Cloud's mind was spinning and he didn't know what to do. He knew what he should do, for the safety of the Planet he should kill Sephiroth. It's what he wanted to do. It was his only choice and not doing it now was just prolonging the agony.

...But somehow, he just couldn't do it.

It would be so easy. So thoughtlessly simple. Save the world from any further threat and all it would take was a small press of a button.

"Cloud-" Sephiroth said, and Cloud looked at him with a hatred that was so potent that it froze the words in his throat.

Suddenly Cloud spun on his heel and stormed out of the lab, slamming the reenforced steel door behind him. Sephiroth watched him go, his hand trailing down the glass.

"I'm sorry." He said to no one.


	4. 4 Recovery

Recovery

Cloud stormed out of the lab, stalked down the hall and went where it took him. He found an exit to a stairwell and took it when the hall ended and it was either keep going or turn back. He decided to keep going.

What if Sephiroth had found a way into his mind, as he'd done before. Cloud wouldn't put it past that maniac. He had to kill him. He had to and the sooner he did it the better. Sephiroth had even dared him to do it.

Cloud nearly ran down the stairs as though he was in a hurry to go someplace when really that wasn't the case. More like he was running from something, or 'someone'.

"Goddamnit!" He screamed as he reached the last step and had no place else to go. His voice echoed through the dark stairwell mocking his pain. He viciously kicked the door open to a large room, shaded in darkness except for a few emergency lights that flickered above him. He started kicking things over breaking everything he could until he fell to his knees surrounded by broken glass and dust holding his head wailing and screaming until he couldn't breathe anymore.

He knew he had to kill him, Cloud thought afterwards as he lay on the floor and stared blankly up at the ceiling. He would just do what he had to do and then he would fire bomb this dungeon out of existence.

'I'm here. Come find me.'

Aeris's voice called in his mind so clear and true that it sounded real. Cloud's eyes widened, he looked around him, but he was alone.

"Aeris?" He said, wiping his face with the back of his arm. He knew she was dead. He'd held her in his arms as she had taken her last breathe.

"Aeris are you here?" Still nothing and Cloud shook his head, sure now that he'd finally gone crazy.

Even though he knew it was hopeless, stupid, self delusional and that afterwards he would just give himself a mental slap for his foolishness he started searching the long abandoned lab.

He shook his head again, sighing deep and resigned knowing that he would find nothing. But as he prepared himself to go back upstairs and do what he had to do, he saw a door.

Probably a supply room, Cloud thought but walked to it anyway. Nothing of interest behind it, he was sure, but then why was it secured with a keypad? Cloud hummed to himself as he drew out his Omni sword and with a clean slice, easily ripped through the reinforced steel of the door.

It wasn't a supply room but a small lab, same as all the others except for a tank of Mako that lit the room in a greenish glow. Someone was in the tank, female, with long brown hair that lifted and swirled around the naked body...

He knew that body-

"Aeris!!" He gasped, comprehension overwhelming confusion as he forced his feet to !Move! and he rushed to the tank placeing his hands against it and staring at her beautiful, unconscious face. Feeling panicky he rushed to the keypad and with hands shaking badly he pressed the release code. He had to do it several times before he got it right and when the mako drained and the tank unlocked he found that he was hyperventilateing. The room was beginning to spin and turn dark at the edges. He felt himself begin to pass out-

-and then he slapped himself as hard as he could.

The stinging pain forced him to calm down, (goddamnit this was no time to be weak!). On shaky legs he went to the tank and opened the door scooped her cold and burning body from the grated floor and held her tightly.

"Aeris...honey?" He said, stroking her hair that was slimy with Mako, but she was unconscious to the point of being in a coma. Severe Mako poisoning his mind supplied but she wasn't a SOLDIER. Her body wouldn't be able to overcome this.

Cloud found himself sitting on the cold tile floor, cradling and rocking her in his arms. He'd found her and she was alive- but for how long? How long before she faded away completely out of his reach?

He had to get to a hospital. People got Mako poisoned and survived. They got sick, yeah, Cloud knew that better than anyone but some of them survived.

Armed with a plan he got up, cradling her easily in his arms he ran for the stairs. He took them two and three steps at a time flying out of the building and to his bike, pausing only long enough to wrap her in a blanket, he placed her securely before him and drove with suicidal speed back to town.


	5. 5 Time will tell

Time will tell

Cloud careened down the mountain, making his own path. He jumped streams, dodged trees and boulders, slid into hairpin turns so sharp that if Aeris had been awake to witness them, would have caused her to pass out. By conventional means, it would take a vehicle six hours to get to the nearest hospital, but by driving an almost straight route down the mountain side, Cloud was able to cut that time down to two and a half hours. Zack would have been proud.

Cloud had screeched to a smoking halt at the door of the emergency room and run in, yelling for help as he held her cold and nearly lifeless body close. Nurses had rushed forth, doctors were paged and Aeris was taken from him.

Cloud was left left alone to pace.

Hours passed before a doctor finally approached him and took him to her.

Aeris looked pale and small in her hospital bed. There were tubes and wires coming out of everywhere, her nose, mouth, arms. The room was silent except for the sound of the machines that monitored her vital signs. Cloud shivered at the sight.

"She's been decontaminated, but there isn't any way for us to reverse the damage. She is a very sick girl." The doctor said.

"But...Is she going to be Okay?" Cloud asked, biting his lip.

"It's difficult to say. How long was she submerged?"

"I dunno, years."

"Years?" The doctor said, his eyebrows shooting up.

"I found her in the Shinra Mansion in a Mako filled tank."

The doctor visibly paled at that and took an involuntary step back as he gave Cloud a closer look.

"Your SOLDIER, aren't you." He said but it wasn't a question. One good look at Cloud's glowing eyes and the answer was clear. "I don't know what went on up there, but that whole area has been under quarantine. No one is allowed up there. Not since the reactor blew up in Nebleheim. We don't want any trouble with Shinra here. This is a small town. We mind our own business."

"I understand." Cloud said looking confused at the doctors sudden change.

"No you don't. Why did you bring her here?"

"This is the nearest hospital."

"Your Shinra doctors are better able to care for their experiments." He spat in a low hiss.

And then Cloud understood.

There were no secrets in small towns. People weren't stupid just because they didn't live in a metropolis. Things were heard and repeated in whispers. By the way the doctor was acting it was clear to Cloud that he didn't believe the propaganda that Shinra had spread about Nebleheim. He knew there wasn't a quarantine and that human experiments had gone on up there.

Shinra's power may have been badly decimated since Meteor but it was still the biggest power there was and steadily growing stronger.

"We're not with them." Cloud said.

The doctor looked unconvinced.

"Your the only one that can help. Please."

"All right." The doctor said, becoming coldly business like. "Like I was saying, she is very sick and we can't undo the damage the Mako has caused. The worst case scenario is that she never regains consciousness. If she were to come out of the coma there is a real chance that she would suffer from insanity. Either way, it is very common for a long submersion as you say she's had, that there will be a general breakdown or mutation of bodily organs. In such a case all we could do is to ease her suffering with medication. Her life expectancy would be greatly diminished.

"In a very few rare cases the victim has pulled through. Usually they were young and in good health to begin with. In those cases the outcome was beneficial as they survived with all the enhanced senses and abilities of SOLDIER. But I don't want you to get your hopes up. She is a very sick girl."

Cloud digested that information for a moment but refused to accept the fact that Aeris might not make it. She had died once. It was a miracle that she was still breathing. If she was strong enough to survive Sephiroth, then she would survive this.

"Can I stay with her?"

The doctor followed Clouds gaze to Aeris and his expression softened. "Yes of course. There is nothing else we can do for her. Only time will tell."


	6. 6 Freedom

Freedom

Sephiroth sat cross-legged in the center of his cell, his attention focused inward in a deep meditative trance. His body was weakened from his long stay in the Mako but he was swiftly healing himself. Soon he would be as strong as ever. Stronger.

He knew that he was alone in the building. He'd been aware the moment that Cloud had found the flowergirl, and carried her out.

Aeris, he reminded himself. The last true Cetra.

Sephiroth didn't respect many people. He'd always been so developmentally advanced,

_'superhuman'_

that he'd been without peer. Very few held his admiration. Zack was one of those few.

Aeris was another.

She had known that death awaited her that day in the Ancient City and she had faced it bravely. He'd caught her last thoughts as her soul had left her body. She had been fixated on Holy and saving the Planet. Her focus had been pure and true. He'd known then that she was special and not just because she was a Cetra. At her core, Aeris was pure steel.

As a warrior, Sephiroth respected that.

Cloud had asked him if he regretted killing her.

He did.

Sighing, Sephiroth rose smoothly to his feet and summoned Massamune to him. The room filled with a crackling electric hum and his greatest possession appeared comfortingly in his hand. Sephiroth smiled fondly at the seven foot sword. A sword that was legendary-

_'A sword made for a God.' _The voice was like the dry rustle of feathers in his mind.

"Shut up mother." He murmured as he admired the shining, razor sharp edge of his blade.

Jenova was still a part of him and had been from his earliest memory. Her voice had always been in the background of his mind, like a corrupt conscience. One that he could now easily ignore.

He knew that she had never been his weakness. His only true weakness had been Cloud.

Waking up from his long sleep and seeing Cloud there, he'd wanted to apologize but he knew that it would be too little, too late. He knew that he would never be able to atone for all that he'd done.

Cloud had called him a monster and that had

_hurt_

been something that he couldn't deny. He'd known since he'd been small that he was 'special'. With his pale bloodless appearance, his lizard like slitted eyes, his teeth that were vaguely animal like in their sharpness. He was too strong, too fast, too smart. He was simply too different from others.

But his time in Mako had taught him something, that despite the experiments done on him, the genetic mutations that had caused his weird alien appearance, he was fundamentally, at least, still human. He wasbred from human parents. Haveing that knowledge was like having a solid foundation beneath him and he knew that he would never fall for Jenova's lies again. He'd made that mistake once and he never repeated his mistakes.

Cloud had been a mistake. And Sephiroth didn't care what Cloud thought of him. He would believe what he wanted to anyway.

The truth was that although they'd been close before Nebleheim, Sephiroth had never understood him. Cloud was too complicated. His emotions unpredictable. He was often moody, whiny and insecure. He made it a habit to over-think everything and frequently jumped to baffling conclusions that made no sense to anyone except, perhaps, himself.

Sephiroth smirked at the memory and focused on the shatter proof glass before him. Cloud had thought that the cell was inescapable but he wasn't a specimen. He was Sephiroth and nothing could hold him-

_'because your a god so much better than-'_

"Shut the fuck up Mother." He said as he raised one bare foot and kicked out at the glass and was satisfied to see it rip from the wall in one piece and fall to the floor, raising up a storm of years old dust.

He unintentionally breathed it in and sneezed.

Sniffing with irritation, he climbed out of the cell and walked through the empty lab, looking around for things he could use.

Though he generally loathed scientists, researchers, doctors and their natural habitat, being in a lab filled him with a weird sort of nostalgia. Labs were basically the only home he'd ever known.

Still if he had anything to say about it this would be the last time he'd ever set foot in one, he thought as the air conditioner sent a draft of air that wafted his hair and carressed his bare butt.

First off, he decided that he needed to find some clothes. Since those couldn't be summoned he headed for the small kitchen/lounge area that all labs had and there he found the staff lockers. Searching through them he found a pair of black cargo pants, a black tshirt and a pair of combat boots that luckily was his size. In the mini fridge he found a stash of unopened water bottles and drank one down thirstily, thinking that all he needed now was to find a means of transportation and to get out-

That's when it hit him. In a sudden brilliant moment of perfect clarity and understanding he realized that he was-

free.

For the first time in his life, he wasn't tethered to anything. Not to Shinra or Hojo, not even to fucking Mother.

He could do anything he wanted. He could go anywhere he wanted. He could... sleep late if he wanted and waste time in stupid pointless ways like watching television or surfing the Internet. For hours.

He would never have to wear a uniform again.

He could...

The possibilities were so endless that he actually had a brief moment of anxiety. For the first time in his life he did not have a rigid schedule to follow.

Sephiroth stopped where he stood, staring around him suddenly feeling adrift and lost.

What did he want to do? He'd never really been faced with that choice. There had always been Hojo or Shinra to tell him what to do and where to go. And then of course, Jenova and her brilliant plan to destroy the planet-

Without them he was-

_lost_

And then the answer came to him. A solution to his problem that should have been immediately obvious.

"Zack." He said with a tremendous sigh of relief. He would find his old friend and Zack would help him with this.

After all if anyone could teach him how to waste time and goof off, it was Zack.

Note: Blah...This chapter started off great but I went to the stupid dentist and had surgery and then took vicoden and this is the result. I've rewritten and edited this one so many times that I'm not sure anymore if this was even what I wanted to say. Opinions?


	7. 7 Going home

Three days later Aeris opened her eyes for the first time. They glowed with the fluorescence of the Lifestream.

"Cloud?" She said and Cloud was right there. He had rarely left her side in the three days that she had been in the coma.

"How do you feel?" He asked.The doctors had removed her breathing tube and most of the wires, but an I.V. was still inserted into her hand. Although they had been cautious, none of the staff could hide their amazement at her quick recovery. It turned out that Aeris was one of the rare few who survived massive Mako poisioning. The Mako that had almost killed her was now accelerating her healing.

"Hungry. I feel like I haven't eaten in days." She answered and he thrilled at hearing her voice again.

"More like years." He smiled. Cloud felt his hopes rise until he felt as light as a helium. He'd hoped that she was one of the rare few and that she would come out of her Mako bath unscathed. But it wasn't until she'd spoken his name and told him that she was hungry that he'd realized how tenuous that hope had been. Like he'd been grasping at straws.

He found that he couldn't stop grinning at her.

"Years? That long?" She said and tears welled up in her glowing green eyes.

"I'm sorry if I'd known you were there-" He started to say, his smile fadeing. Already beating himself up for his failure to save her.

"No, Cloud, don't. I'm alive and that's what matters." She said, pulling herself up to a sitting position. Her plain hospital gown slipped off of one shoulder revealing a hint of soft feminine curves. Cloud reached over and adjusted the gown for her, thinking that the first thing he would do was go out and buy her a pink dress and a ribbon.

"What do you remember?" He asked after a moment of gazing at her twinkling, amazingly green eyes.

"...I...everything, I think." She said, her smile fading to something more serious as remembered images of her time in the Mako crystallized.

" I remember Sephiroth killing me."

"He'll never get close to you again." Cloud said.

"He's alive." .

"Not for long."

"What are you going to do?"

"What I should have done three days ago. Kill him and make sure he's dead."

"He's still there, then?"

Cloud nodded.

"Alone?"

Cloud gave her a smile that reminded her of Sephiroth's last smile. Evil

"He won't be alone for long." He promised.

"I suppose you must do what you feel you have to do." She said looking down and fiddling with the hem of her blanket.

"I will." Cloud assured.

"I don't blame him for what he did Cloud. I forgive him."

And just like that Cloud felt his hopes and good spirits deflate like a cheap department store balloon. It had been too much to hope that Aeris would be fine. It was obvious now that she wasn't. She looked and sounded the same but she was different. The Mako had driven Aeris insane.

"Don't look at me like that! I'm not crazy!" She cried.

Abashed, Cloud looked away. Then with a sigh, rose and went to the room's private bathroom and wet a face cloth with cold water. He came out and placed it gently on her forehead.

"There, there Aeris. Don't upset yourself. Rest now."

"...Cloud-"

"Shhhh"

"Arghh!! Don't shush me. Listen to me. These last few years have been strange. I've spent time in the Lifestream and was pulled back into my body only to remain in stasis for ...well for a long time. I wasn't completely unaware. I connected with many people. You for instance I came to you in your dreams, remember?"

He nodded.

"I came to understand many things and I know what drove Sephiroth to do what he did. If blame needs to be given then it needs to be spread evenly to Shinra, Hojo and Jenova. Sephiroth was raised to be a weapon. He was placed on a certain path at birth and every action he has ever taken has been influenced by that. We all act and react in predictable ways, Cloud. We all do what we think is right. His reality was distorted from day one."

"He's a megalomaniac."

"That's who he was raised to be, but that's not who he really is, deep down inside. You know that right?"

"No I don't. I know everything that he's done and I think he should be held accountable for them."

"As he should be, but please understand that he couldn't not do what he did. I communicated with him as I did with you, and he's not like that anymore. The experiences of the last few years has changed him. He's no longer crazy or evil."

"Aeris, you've been through so much. I don't want to argue and get you upset." He said, adjusting the cool cloth on her head.

"Cloud." She said, taking hold of his hand. "I also understand that you have to react in a certain way. I know I can't stop you from going after him. I just hope that one day you can forgive him. The only one you hurt by focusing on hate is you."

Cloud rolled his eyes at that and started planning for her future. A nice quiet home someplace, with a garden of course-

"Cloud!"

"Hmmmm?"

"I'm not crazy!" She grinned with supressed laughter.

"I know your not." He said. After all she was just being Aeris. On anyone else her logic would have sounded like the random ravings of a schizophrenic but on her it was normal. ;)

They shared a quiet laugh and Cloud couldn't stop from leaning forward and kissing her cheek and blushing. She giggled at his blush and kissed him with a loud smack on his cheek just to watch him turn even redder.

"And Zack! He's alive too." She said suddenly, grasping his hand and pulling him close.

"So it's true." Cloud said, sober again. "That's what Sephiroth told me, but I didn't dare believe him."

"Yes." She smiled beautifically. Cloud watched as a glow came to her face and he realized something.

"You love him, don't you?" He said and waited for the stabbing pain of a dagger going through his heart. He was surprised when that didn't happen and that he only felt happiness for her.

"Uhuh. I haven't seen him in years but it's like we've never been apart. In here." She said tapping her hand over her heart. "Y'know?"

He nodded with perfect understanding.

"Where is he Aeris?"

"I don't know exactly. Home."

"Home." He repeated, wondering where that could be. Surely not Midgar. Then it clicked. Home for Zack was-

"Gongaga?"

Aeris smiled. "Yes, I think so. Let's go to him now." She said throwing the face cloth from her head.

"Now? But Aeris you're still not well. The doctor's want to run tests!"

"Pish-Posh, I feel great! Better then I ever did before. I swear, this Mako stuff is great! I feel like I could run to Gongaga."

"But-"

"Cloud I've lost years of my life. I won't waste another day. I want to see Zack now."

Cloud gave her a long look and knew that all the power of SOLDIER couldn't stop her from leaving the hospital right then and there.

But unfortunately he had some unfinished business to take care of.

It took some convincing to make her lay back and stay still until the doctors released her. But a promise of a new pink dress, (and boots! She insisted.) and she promised to stay put until he returned. Still he avoided looking in eyes as she sadly watched him leave the room.

He hadn't told her in so many words, but they both knew where he was going first.

cscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscscs

The drive back up the mountain was slow, since he was taking the road. He knew what he had to do now and he was prepared. His resolve was steely.

He just needed time to think.

Aeris didn't love him. She loved Zack. Cloud expected to feel something... anger, regret, jealousy...something, but he didn't. He just felt a strange satisfaction, like a puzzle piece clicking smoothly into place.

He'd lost his identity before and it had taken years for him to regain himself. This was another piece in the puzzle of his true identity. Yes, he loved Aeris, but he loved her like a sister.

It was as it should be, he thought. She had always belonged to Zack.

Cloud saw the smoke before he'd crested the mountain and he knew what it was. Breaking route from the road, he barreled into the woods, making his own trail like he had done before.

Then he saw it. The Shinra Mansion was on fire. An explosion rocked the mountain and its echo caused a landslide nearby that he barely avoided. Cloud got as close as the hot flames would let him.

He stood and watched the building burn, feeling waves of sadness and satisfaction and wondered if Sephiroth was dead.

And he laughed at the thought.

Sephiroth, the Nightmare, dead? The Demon that had single handedly brought Wataii to its knees. The Maniac who'd leveled Shinra and turned it back to a mom and pop shop. The psychopath who had come a hair's breath from destroying the entire Planet and every living thing on it. Dead? No. The great and legendary Sephiroth would not find his end in a simple little house fire.

It wouldn't be that easy.

He'd gotten out, Cloud was sure, and he'd set fire to the place. Sephiroth was out there somewhere. Cloud looked southward and knew exactly where he was heading.

Gongaga.

Cloud turned and walked back to the Fenrir, and assured himself that no matter where Sephiroth tried to run, he would be right behind him.

.


	8. 8 War God

War God

It had been a few years since Sephiroth had tried to destroy the Planet, and he'd almost succeeded. During his week of traveling, he had seen first hand the destruction he had wrought. Some places would never be rebuilt and would remain ghost towns. Other places like Edge were newly built and thriving.

Gongaga looked untouched.

The wild jungle foliage likely had a thing to do with that, the plants grew thick and fast and covered the scars that Meteor had caused. Gongaga had never been a largely populated place but the people who lived their lives there were hardy. To Sephiroth, it was like stepping back in time to Before.

Sephiroth drove his commandeered truck, following the main (and only) road of Gongaga until the the road met the ocean. Stepping out of the truck he strode forward onto a sand dune and took in the vastness of the ocean before him. There were miles of pure clean beach on both sides of him that stretched unbroken as far as the eye could see.

He knew Zack was here.

Sephiroth took a deep breath and tested the air. He smelled the salty ocean, the smell of green growing things, dirt,... his highly Mako sensitised nose taking in and analyzing all the smells around him until he caught a faint scent that didn't belong. A fermenting smell of something so spoiled it had become something new. It was the smell of alcohol. Zack

_'he wont want to see you' _

"Be quiet mother." He muttered as he followed the scent trail of moonshine.

The smell grew stronger as he trekked across the beach, over sand dunes and into encroaching jungle. The area was largely untouched by man. Here and there he came across signs that someone had once passed through or lived there. An overgrown wreckage of a house, an old tire just peaking out from the underbrush but nothing recent. Still the scent of alcohol grew stronger.

He knew Zack was very close and the closer he got the more he wondered what Zack's reaction would be to seeing him again. Sephiroth more than expected to be met with a drawn sword and a curse. His apology, small and worthless as it would be, would have to be given between blows.

Then after Zack spit in his face, and called him several different versions of bastard... he'd move on.

Sephiroth wondered where he'd go. Hiding out wasn't much of an option. Big cities, little towns, didn't matter because he'd still stand out. He could keep moving from place to place...

Shinra would eventually gather themselves together and come after him too. Sephiroth smiled as he imagined the size of the bounty on his head. He wondered if anyone would actually be foolish enough to try and kill him. And they'd have to kill him. They would never take him alive.

He supposed he would eventually have to come to some kind of deal with Shinra if he ever wanted any kind of peace.

_slave_

But he couldn't go back to that either. Shinra had owned him his whole life, going back wasn't an option.

He wasn't afraid of anything. He could settle down anywhere he wanted. Who would stop him?

_no one_

"That's right." He smirked. No one. He could settle down right here, put up a big fucking sign declaring himself with flashing lights and no one would dare do anything to him.

Heh. He could start up his own government to rival Shinra, if he had to. He'd beaten Wataii. It was a mere fluke that he hadn't beaten the Planet. But who's to say that he couldn't own it? Hmmmmm?

_my son!!_

'Fuck.' He thought. He couldn't do that. It would be wrong.

_you could, yes you could. they don't want you. they used you. you're a monster. teach them a lesson, my son. show them whose boss. You're a god-_

"Shhhhh" Sephiroth stopped walking and rubbed at his temples. It would be so easy. He could do it.

_war god_

But he wanted peace.

_no_

"Yes." He had to find Zack. And Zack had to accept his apology. They would be friends again and Sephiroth would live a quiet life. He would find a way to use his powers and skills to be useful and help the Planet. He would do good-

_Hehehehehehe..._

Sephiroth paused, he'd never heard mother laugh before. Didn't know she could.

_Hehehehehehe..._

"Shut the fuck up mother, you alien bitch!"

_War god_

He sighed and for the first time in his life sent a prayer out to the Planet and to anything Holy that might be listening that he would find Zack and that Zack would help him.

He had to.


	9. 9 Zack

**Zack**

Zack has a daily schedule. He wakes up when the sun gets high enough in the sky for it to shoot laser beams into his eyes. Next he goes for his morning swim in the ocean to wash away yesterday's dirt. Breakfast, if he's hungry is a banana or another piece of fruit, whatever happens to be growing close by. Then he tends his stills. Last but not least is the much anticipated first drink of the day,

He knew it wasn't much of a life. Hell, it was a waste of a life, and if he were to be honest with himself, which he always was if he got drunk enough, he knew that he was just passing time until he could join his friends in the Lifestream.

Sometimes, when he got drunk enough Aeris came to him in a vision. They had long conversations that warmed him but that he could never remember. His daily goal was to get drunk enough to talk to Aeris. It was, he figured as good a goal as any. So he sat in the deep shade of his porch and got to work.

Early afternoon found him sprawled out under heavy shade. He was so drunk now that he expected Aeris any second.

Movement in the brush caught his attention.

"Aeris." He smiled as he focused his bleary eyes. Instead of a vision in pink he was surprised to see an old friend walk out of the jungle.

"Seph? Hey! I was expecting Aeris."

"She'll be here soon." The apparition said, crouching down close. "Zack, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, have a drink. This is the best batch yet."

"Your drunk."

"Yep." Zack said happily and took another swig of his jug.

"This is poison." Sephiroth said, with the same commanding manner that made Zack smile with reminiscence. Sephiroth had always been such a bastard. But he'd been so cool. The best of the best of the best...

Sephiroth was moving away and kicking the still over. Glass shattered and the potent smell of alcohol filled the air.

Zack watched, his mouth hanging open, as Sephiroth began smashing his still to smithereens.

"What're doing?"

"Helping you."

"Uhg. This is the worst hallucination that I've ever had." Zack said out loud, but mostly to himself.

"You'll thank me later for this." Sephiorth said, his face suddenly inches from his, his eyes so luminous that Zack was hypnotized. There were tiny little specks of blue in those eyes, and the split pupils were so perfectly black that they were like twin black holes, sucking Zack in until there was only darkness...

...

Zack woke to the smell of food cooking. For a moment he couldn't remember where he was and wasn't too sure of _who_ he was, but a vicious headache reminded him. When was the last time he had woken up and not been sick? And why was he smelling food anyway? He figured he must have become ambitious in his drunken state and tried to make himself a decent meal before passing out. It didn't smell burnt so he figured it was safe enough to just leave for later. After he'd gotten himself a little 'pick me up'.

Zack stumbled to his still, his eyes bleary and his head acheing and wanting to throw up. A drink would help. It would help immensely.

That's when he saw the shattered remains of his still and was for a moment too horrified to move.

What had he done?!

How drunk had he been to destroy the only thing left in his life that had any meaning? Frantically he searched around the wreckage, looking for any little bit of booze that might be left, but there was nothing. It would take a week for him to brew up a fresh batch, and he would first have to assemble a new still, and he was going to be stone cold sober the entire time.

Just the thought of it made him want to cry. His lip was trembling and his eyes were watering as a little voice inside told him that he had now sunk to a brand new low. Crying over booze? But he couldn't help it. He sunk to his knees, feeling defeated and desperate and pathetic. All he had ever wanted was to be a Hero and instead he was a drunk, dirty and stinking, lying on the ground crying like a two year old because he had no more booze.

He wished he was dead. He wished he could just jump in the ocean and drown. He considered doing it too but he was so Mako enhanced that he could swim to the next continent before he succumbed to the piss warm depths of the Gongaga Sea. Most likely its saltiness would probably just pickle him for all eternity.

Zack was so tired. Even killing himself would require too much work. If he couldn't get drunk then all that was left was to kick and scream in the dirt. Who cared anyway?

"Zack?"

Zack looked up at the sound of his name, sniffing once as he took in the combat boots, long legs clad in black pants, the muscled torso, streaming silver hair-

And the face of someone who he had long ago watched die.

"Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth smiled slightly and walked up to him and crouched down.

"You're dead. How-?"

"Hojo." Sephiroth said and shrugged one shoulder.

"Hojo?" He repeated stupidly and just took in the sight of his friend, shaking his head as though he couldn't believe it. But if anyone could have saved Sephiroth it was the same person that had driven him insane. "Are you OK?"

"Yes."

Zack blinked at him, wiping at his eyes, still not quite believing what he was seeing.

Then he picked himself up and threw himself in Sephiroth's arms with enough force to nearly knock the other man down. He expected to be immediately shoved away. He knew that Sephiroth hated public displays of emotion, but instead he found himself being held tightly. Tight enough to force the air out of his lungs and almost hear the crack of his ribs, but Zack didn't care. He held on to Sephiroth just as tightly.

"It's so good to see you again Zack." He said quietly, and Zack thought he heard a catch in his voice.

He suddenly remembered something. "I thought you were a hallucination."

"It should be obvious that I'm not." Sephiroth said, pulling away and quirking one pale eyebrow quizzically. The expression was so Sephiroth that Zack couldn't help but grin.

Just as quickly the grin faded.

"You said something else...I was drunk, so...I might have heard you wrong." He looked at Sephiroth. "See, after I lost Cloud on that cliff outside of Midgar, I was badly injured -"

"I know all about it, Zack."

"It took me a long time to heal. I was weak... I wasn't able to find Aeris, Seph."

"She's alive. Cloud too."

"What? Both of them? How?"

"You missed a lot." Sephiroth sighed.

"Tell me everything. I can't believe this! I feel like I'm dreaming. Where are they?"

"On their way. They should be here very soon. There's...something I have to tell you, Zack."

"How soon? Is that them? I think I hear them!" He said, jumping to his feet as he caught the sound of an engine.

"Yeah, that's them. About Aeris-"

"Damn they're traveling fast. What're they riding?"

"Some kind of motorcycle. Zack, listen to me. I have to tell you-"

The jungle was vibrating with the fast approaching vehicle. Birds took flight. Animals scattered as an over sized, monstrosity of a motorcycle, carrying a murderous looking Cloud, crashed through the jungle and skidded to a halt, scattering dirt, leaves and branches everywhere.

"SEPHIROTH!"


End file.
